Anke Marsh

The palaeoecology of environmental change, subsistence
and sustainability in the Fertile Crescent during the Mid to Late Holocene

For many years, the transition between the EBA to the MBA was
considered a period of decline and, in some cases, collapse. This view,
however, is changing, as more evidence emerges of sites, which persist through
this period of increasing aridity, and of others which actually expand. There
is also a realisation that much of what is viewed as ‘collapse’ is better seen
as ‘transitions’ into new economic modes, that the increasing aridity has
different impacts across the region, and that human decision making plays an
important role in the sustainability of sites.

This research project focuses on three sites, Sidon (Lebanon),
Hirbemerdon Tepe (SE Anatolia) and Bakr Awa (Kurdish Iraq), all located on the
outer parts of the Fertile Crescent. Geoarchaeological and phytolith analyses
and data are used in order to determine the impact of increasing aridity in the
local areas as well as elucidate on adaptation and decision making during this
period of changing climate, especially agricultural strategies and resource use
and management.

2007, Rivera-Collazo, I and Marsh-Cross, A, A micromorphological
analysis of the floor feature units YA-YB. Punta Candelero, Puerto Rico.
Preliminary Results. Report presented to the project director for Punta
Candelero Project and included in the final report presented to the Council of
Terrestrial Archaeology of Puerto Rico

Conferences

Exploring the Shahrizor Plain: New research in Iraqi Kurdistan, Institute
of Archaeology (December 2011)‘Environmental and geomorphological research in the Shahrizor’
(co-presented with Dr Mark Altaweel)

Socio-environmental dynamics over the last 12,000 years: the creation
of landscapes (open workshop), Christian-Albrechts-Universität zu Kiel(April 2011) ‘Modelling sustainability: The Near East in Transition’, a talk given
in the ‘Collapse or continuity? Environment and development in Bronze Age
landscapes’ session

Theoretical Archaeology Group conference, Sheffield University
(December 2005)‘Racism in the archaeological record: Lessons for the modern world’, a
talk given in the ‘An eternal conflict? Archaeology and social responsibility
in the post-Iraq world’ session (invited speaker)